O'Rourke, Sanchez Working Through Injuries

One of the two Crew’s two injured field players who were unavailable for Saturday’s game against
New York could be back in action this weekend.

Defender Danny O’Rourke was scratched with what the club described on Twitter as suffering from
back stiffness that flared up late in the week, while midfielder Matias Sanchez was unavailable due
to an unspecified injury. Today, O’Rourke took part in warm-ups with an eye on increasing his
workload Wednesday.

Sanchez, however, only underwent treatment on what coach Robert Warzycha said was a calf injury
suffered in the Crew’s 3-1 loss at Houston on August 3.

“We’ll see (Wednesday) if he can step on the field or not this week,” the coach said.

As he exited the team’s facility in Obetz, Sanchez was asked how he was feeling. The native of
Argentina speaks limited English, but enough to reply, “bad.”

O’Rourke was replaced by Josh Williams in the starting lineup. Williams had started the last
five games at right back after starting the previous three at center back alongside Chad Marshall.
In all, Williams has 17 starts at right back this season.

I asked Warzycha about O’Rourke’s availability going forward.

“Danny went through the warm-up and I guess he was fine,” the coach said. “We’re going to have
him for tomorrow.”

As for whether O’Rourke would slide back in at center defense after the Crew’s 2-0 win, Warzycha
said, “I think we didn’t give up any goals against a good team, so that’s obviously a plus. It’s
not like we don’t have to work on anything and everything was fine, but overall it was a very good
performance by the entire team.

“We’ll see on Friday.”

In addition, goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum is not expected to be available this weekend as he
continues to rest his injured left shoulder. Check Wednesday’s paper for a more-complete update on
his status.

New faceTony Tchani made his first appearance Saturday since the Crew’s 2-1 loss at Los Angeles on
July 4. Officially, he was credited with two minutes of action against New York.

“It’s a competition,” Warzycha said. “Somebody was doing something better than him and that’s
why he wasn’t playing.”

After playing in the first four games as a substitute, Tchani sat out the next three games, the
first of which was due to injury. He made his first start of the season April 27 against D.C.
United and started seven straight games, but then sat out seven of the last eight games entering
this past weekend.

I asked Warzycha if Tchani’s lack of action was due to inconsistent play.

“I think it’s up to the player,” the coach said. “He has to convince me that he needs to be on
the field. He has to give me confidence that when I put him on the field, he’s going to do whatever
the team needs. That’s the same for every single player.

“It’s not about Tony Tchani, it’s about the other players who are playing better than him. He’s
doing fine, but other players are doing better. Put it that way. It’s not that he’s not doing well.
He’s doing well. Other players are at this point playing better. I only have 18 players and only
six subs. I have to make selections.”

Still hisAfter Ryan Finley relieved Jairo Arrieta at halftime of the Crew’s loss to Houston, Warzycha
said Arrieta’s starting spot was “his to lose” as the team prepared for the Red Bulls.

Arrieta failed to score against New York, but Warzycha indicated that his starting spot remains
intact – for now.

“I think he’s a player who was brought here to score goals,” he said. “He didn’t score in that
game but I think he was dangerous.”